While CEOs recognise sustainability as a business imperative and growth driver, a lack of reliable data insights is hindering their ability to take action, the study noted. 

 

IBM’s annual CEO study, Own your impact: Practical pathways to transformational sustainability, which surveyed which surveyed more than 60 CEOs in KSA, found that nearly half of respondents rank sustainability as a top priority for their organisations— an increase of 37% from 2021. 

 

Hurdles remain

However, more than half (51%) of global respondents also cite sustainability as among their greatest challenges in the next two to three years, with lack of data insights, unclear ROI, and technology barriers, as hurdles. 

 

And while 95% of CEOs report being at least in the piloting stage of implementing their sustainability strategy, just under a quarter (23%) say they are implementing their sustainability strategy across their entire organisation.

 

“CEOs are leading during one of the most complex environments ever, including war, inflation, talent shortages, and the Covid-19 pandemic health crisis," said Fahad Alanazi, General Manager of IBM Saudi Arabia. 

 

Harnessing the power of data

"Despite these challenges, they aren’t taking their foot off the gas when it comes to sustainability, and more now rank it among their top priorities. Sustainability is at the heart of Saudi Vision 2030 as the kingdom aims to reach Net Zero by 2060. Today, we remain as committed as ever to help our partners and customers harness the power of data to achieve this goal."

 

Key study findings

*CEOs say sustainability is climbing higher on their agendas and believe it can help drive business performance:

•62% of CEOs in Saudi Arabia say increasing sustainability is one of their highest priorities for their organisation in the next two to three years – 14% more than the global average surveyed.

•Nearly 70% of globally surveyed CEOs say they are directly involved in defining their organisation’s sustainability strategy.

•Over 80% of global CEO respondents believe that their company’s sustainability investments will produce improved business results in the next five years and nearly half of CEOs (45%) think that sustainability will accelerate business growth. 

 

*Pressure is mounting from stakeholders, but lack of data insights and technological barriers stand in the way:

•More than 60% of surveyed CEOs in Saudi Arabia cite sustainability as among their greatest challenges in the next two to three years, up from 29% in 2021, ahead of cyber risk (48%), technology infrastructure (45%), geopolitical uncertainty (38%), and supply chain disruption (37%).

•Nearly 60% of respondents in Saudi Arabia list unclear ROI and economic benefits as a leading challenge to achieving sustainability objectives, followed by a lack of insights from data (53%), and technological barriers (45%).

•37% of respondents also identify regulatory barriers to implementing sustainability in their organisation.

 

*CEOs are putting words into action, yet aren’t embedding sustainability strategies across the organisation: 

•Global respondents indicate that CEO investment in sustainability has more than doubled as a percentage of revenue over the last five years.

•More than 50% of respondents in Saudi Arabia  are confident they’ll achieve their sustainability goals and only 33% of CEOs surveyed believe sustainability targets announced by government for their industry were not achievable.

•While 28% of CEOs surveyed in Saudi Arabia report being at least in the piloting stage of implementing their sustainability strategy, more than half (52%) say they are implementing their sustainability strategies in some aspects or functions.-- TradeArabia News Service